White House shoots down German officials' claim that Trump gave Merkel a $374 billion bill to pay for NATO
The White House denied reports on Sunday that President Trump gave German Chancellor Angela Merkel a $374 billion invoice for money her country owed the US for NATO defense.
The Times of London published a story citing anonymous German officials who claimed Trump gave Merkel the bill during their meeting in Washington last week.
"No, this is not true," White House press secretary Sean Spicer said when Business Insider reached out to the White House for comment.
The Times reported that one German minister said the alleged exchange was "outrageous" and that "the concept behind putting out such demands is to intimidate the other side, but the chancellor took it calmly and will not respond to such provocations."
NATO members are supposed to contribute 2% of GDP to the treaty, though Germany
only contributes 1.2% . The US, on the other hand, contributes 3.6% — almost double the requirement.
Trump, like President Barack Obama before him, has demanded that NATO members pay their fair share .
After the meeting with Merkel,
Trump doubled down on his desire for Germany to up its contribution. "Germany owes vast sums of money to NATO & the United States must be paid more for the powerful, and very expensive, defense it provides to Germany!" the president tweeted on Saturday, March 18.